This caricature shows Harry Lauder performing his song ‘The Saftest of the Family’ at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 28 August 1905. It is one of the many superb caricatures of Edwardian music hall performers that were drawn by the artist George Cooke when he was based at the Grand Theatre. He compiled them in a series of albums.

The other songs that Lauder sang at Hanley were ‘She’s ma Daisy’ and ‘Stop yer Tickling Jock’. In ‘The Saftest of the Family’ Lauder was an overgrown schoolboy relating the excuses he gave his teacher for his naughtiness.

Born near Edinburgh in 1870, Harry Lauder became one of the most internationally recognised of all British music hall stars. He had worked as a miner for ten years before he appeared with Scottish concert parties. ‘The little wee man with the twinkling eyes’ first appeared in England in 1896 at the Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead, as an Irish comedian. He became an overnight sensation in 1900 after performing Scottish songs at Gatti’s music hall in London. His greatest songs included ‘I Love a Lassie’, which was first sung in pantomime in Glasgow in 1905, ‘Stop Your Ticklin’ Jock’ and ‘Keep Right On Till the End of the Road’. ‘Tobermory’ was one of Lauder’s popular songs, which he later recorded. He sang his songs in costumes related to their themes, and often carried the twisted walking stick seen here. He was knighted in 1919 and entertained the troops in concert parties in both World Wars. He died in 1950.